Headlights
by Autobot Trapjaw
Summary: Pepper and Tony try to start over after New York. The two meet a young girl, and both her and Tony's lives begin to change.
1. Chapter 1

Headlights

It was 4:00 in the morning. It was dark, but it was warm. Their shared body heat remained trapped beneath the sheets they slept under together. It wasn't often that the two of them were able to enjoy each other's warmth together, but when they did, Pepper felt safe. Nights without Tony's securing embrace were cold and often quite lonely. Most of the time, she found herself falling asleep alone and waking up alone as well, mainly due to Tony's insomnia-encouraging schedule. There was little either could do about it, but it still irked Pepper some nights.

This time was different, though. As she opened her eyes in the dark of early morning, she was quite pleased to feel his thick arms still around her waist as he slept. Pepper smiled. For once, Tony could sleep in instead of her. She carefully slipped out from underneath his arm, and before it was light, Pepper was out the door, and Tony was still fast asleep.

"Good morning, Pepper," Happy greeted as he stood with the backseat door of one of their more formal cars open.

"Hey, Happy. What's the schedule for the day today, again?" Pepper replied as she approached him, her heels clicking against the concrete floor.

"Well, you have a meeting at 7:30 this morning, then an appearance at the Manhattan Children's orphanage at 11:00, and then... you're free the rest of the day."

"That's it?" Pepper replied as she climbed into the backseat before Happy leaned in and handed her the clipboard.

"Take a look for yourself," he said before he closed the door and walked around to the driver door. He was right; Pepper looked at her schedule and only found those two events.

"Awesome..."

* * *

"Mr. Stark, it is 10:30, Sir... Mr. Stark..."

Tony turned over in his sleep in attempt to ignore the sound of Jarvis's voice. Sleep was a rare and precious thing for Tony.

"Mr. Stark, it is time for you to wake up, Sir."

"Shut up, Jarvis... I just want to sleep. Pepper, tell Jarvis to shut up," Tony replied in his deep, half-asleep, scratchy voice. He swung his arm around over the width of the mattress as he searched for the body that was supposed to be there with him. To his surprise, Pepper's side of the bed had long since gone cold. "Pepper...?"

"Ms. Potts left for work over six hours ago, Sir, so I suggest you get up and get dressed before she returns home at approximately 2:45 this afternoon."

"Pepper had to work today?" Tony replied as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Not cool... I was gonna make her those breakfast bacon and egg bowl-cup thingamabobs this morning."

"Well, now you can enjoy them yourself, Sir, because that was exactly what Ms. Potts did for you before she left," Jarvis added as Tony got up and looked in the mirror and admired his muscular build while he was still half asleep.

"Okay... Jarvis, turn on something that will wake me up, please... I don't want to fall asleep in the shower again."

"Of course, Sir, because none of us want to relive last week's incident."

"Oh, shuddup, Jarvis..." Tony snapped as he drowsily dragged himself into the bathroom and into the shower.

Tony rubbed his eyes as he looked at the faucet handles in the shower. Around him, the sound of a piano played - it was slow and sad, but he was too tired to really notice it was nowhere close to what he asked for. He turned the hot water handle all the way over and waited until he could feel it burn his skin to carefully turn the cold water on. As the water adjusted and spilled from the shower-head, Tony stood still and let the water cover his whole body. He leaned against the front wall of the shower, his head tilted towards the white-tile floor and eyes closed. He was still so tired, he couldn't help but fall asleep again in the shower. The warmth was just too comforting to ignore.

At first, the dreams started out peaceful enough. He was with Pepper, they had a child - a daughter - and they were all happy together. It was pleasing. Then things began to shift as he watched his life unfold. He and Pepper began to argue a lot, more than they did in reality. Their daughter grew up and began to drift away from them. She and Pepper left. He was alone. His heart became flooded with regret and loneliness. He holed himself up and became an outcast in society. As time went on, the name 'Stark' slowly was forgotten, as was he, by the world. His money began to run thin, and he slowly fell ill. Everything he had ever built for himself was gone. Then, one day, there was a knock on his door- it was his daughter. She came to tell him of her new husband-to-be. She had come to give him his invitation, and she didn't plan to stay any longer than necessary.

Once the wedding day came, Tony watched as his little girl promised a man he had never met to love him unconditionally, and he the same. There was nothing he could do to stop them, and he felt powerless. He had officially lost his daughter. It was too much for him to take, and as she 'I do' to the man before her, he felt his heart give in, and his body fell to the floor. His vision became fuzzy around the edges, and he knew he was dying. He noticed someone running towards him as others panicked.

"Someone call 911!" the person approaching him said before kneeling down in front of him. "Daddy, just hold on, you're gonna be okay."

"Harper, my sweetheart... I'm sorry I ruined...ruined your wedding..." he said with a weak voice that grew weaker with each passing minute.

"Oh, Daddy, no. You didn't ruin it..." she said as tears began to sneak into the corner of her eyes. Her husband of only a few minutes knelt beside her.

"You," Tony heard himself say as he turned towards the young man. "Don't you dare hurt my... my daughter. I taught her how to beat up... chumps who try to hurt her, and after she kicks your ass, I'll kick it twice as hard... That's a promise." He could feel the fire in his heart start to really die as time passed without an ambulance. He knew it was showing through the fading of his ark reactor when its blue light dimmed on his daughter's dress.

"Harper told me you would say that. She told me that the first time we went out, Mr. Stark," the man replied with a sympathetic, yet sad, smile. "Sir, I promise you that I would never hurt Harper in any way. She is the most special person I've ever met, and I don't plan on giving her a reason to leave me... Your daughter is too important to me to hurt her."

His vision was fading fast, and it was becoming harder and harder to speak, but Tony felt himself smile.

"Good man..." he said as a tear fell down his face to the floor."Take care of my little girl for me..."

"Daddy, no... You're gonna live. It's too soon..." his daughter argued while trying not to cry. She took his hand and squeezed it tight as she tried to hold back the tears she wanted to cry.

"I will, Mr. Stark... I promise," her husband added as he took their hands in his. Tony smiled.

"Harper... I l-love... I love you..."

His eyes closed. His reactor went dark. He had died...

The hot water ran out in the shower, and it quickly turned ice cold. Tony jumped at the freezing temperature, slipped on the wet floor, and fell, whapping his head on the back wall. He sat in the shower, knocked out cold, as the water continued to run and the music continued to play.

* * *

Pepper climbed out of the car as she and Happy arrived at the orphanage. From the outside, she could hear the laughter and shrieks of the children inside.

"Ready, Pepper?" Happy asked as he put on his sunglasses in attempt to look at least somewhat like a super bad bodyguard. Pepper looked over at him and tried not to laugh.

"Happy, they're kids, not super soldiers. Relax on the uniform; we're here to read the kids a story and play with them, not scare them," Pepper said with a shake of her head as she marched up the stairs and opened the thick wooden doors of the orphanage. Happy, well... Stuck with the shades and briefcase.

"Ah, Ms. Potts! We're so glad you came!"

"Hello- you must be Miss Lenni. I'm glad to be here," Pepper replied to the woman standing inside. She was a tall woman with blonde hair that reached her shoulders and bright blue eyes.

"Yes, I am Miss Lenni; welcome to the Manhattan Children's orphanage. Are you all ready to read to the children?"

"How many are there going to be? How old are they? What are their names?" Happy asked, reminding Pepper he was there, making her jump.

"Happy, chill out. Oh my God, they're kids, how many times have we gone through this?"

"Oh, it's fine, Ms. Potts; we actually have you with the middle-aged children, ages ten to twelve. There are about 15 children in that age group," Miss Lenni said as she led Pepper and Happy down the hallway. The floor was hardwood - it had a nice shine to it, Pepper knew it was a very kept-up place - and the walls were all painted light blue, yet were consumed by many photos of children who had come in and had ones that left by adoption or from growing out of the system.

"How many kids have you had grow out of the system, Lenni?" Pepper asked as she stopped at a particular photo that caught her eye. The people in the photo were siblings, they had the same eyes. The older of the two was about ten at the time the picture was taken, and her younger sister appeared to be about seven or eight. Something in the younger girl's expression tugged at Pepper's heart; the little girl had lost something or someone close to them. It was obvious in her eyes as much as she tried to hide it in the photo.

"In my time here, I've seen a lot of kids - good kids - pass through here. In total, I think I've seen maybe 50 or so kids pass through. Most of them were adopted by good families, some by bad ones that ended up back here or on the streets again, and then there've been a few who left the world too early. That's what happened to Laura and Harper's older brother," the woman stated solemnly as she noticed the picture Pepper was looking at and walked over beside her. "We took this picture about a week after they arrived, the same day Dominic died."

"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?" Pepper took the framed photo off the wall to examine closer. She could see trail the tears had left on the younger girl's face, and the older one's eyes were faintly red.

"Dominic was 11 when it happened. The three of them had been kicked out of their house by their mother on Harper's eighth birthday, so they lived in alleys and dumpsters for the rest of the summer until the beginning of November. The day he died, someone had stolen what little possessions they had – blankets, some scraps of food, extra coats, matches – and when Dominic accused the man of stealing their stuff, a fight broke out. Dominic ended up on top, but after he took their stuff back to his sisters, the man came up behind him, grabbed him by the shoulder, and stabbed him with a pocket knife. Laura made Harper run and hide while their brother bled out. She instead ran here where we called the police. When we got there, the thief was knocked out against the side of a building, and Dominic was sitting in a pool of his own blood with his sister right beside him. We were too late… After that, Laura and Harper moved in with us here. Four years this November."

Pepper took one last look at the picture before hanging it back on the wall where it belonged. "No child should have to ever go through something like that…"

* * *

"The two of them longed for each other's company, but they knew that if they didn't leave the other, their whole mission was lost. 'Gio… If anything happens to me, I just want you to know that you were the best friend anyone could have asked for,' Anna said as she began to walk away from him. 'Anna, wait…!' he shouted. 'We're gonna make it out of here. Trust me, you'll see me again. We're survivors…' he added with a smile. With one last look at each other, the two of them took a deep breath…. And they jumped…" Pepper concluded, gently closing the book while being countered with voices of protest.

"Keep reading! I want to know what happens next!"

"Do they make it out of the Simulator?"

"That's not where the book ends, is it? Please say it isn't!"

"Okay, everyone, let's all say thank you to Ms. Potts for coming today and reading to us!" Lenni spoke strongly over the children's protesting cries. All together, they fell silent for a half second before speaking politely in unison.

"Thank you, Ms. Potts!"

"Thank you for inviting me to come today! As a thank-you from me, I have something for all of you: Iron Man posters." Pepper turned to Happy for the stack of posters in the briefcase. When she turned again, everyone had lined up in front of her excitedly. Pepper smiled.

The line began to dwindle. Five kids were left at the most, and Pepper hadn't seen Harper or Laura yet.

"Pepper, we gotta get going soon," Happy whined as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Calm down, Happy; We'll leave once everyone gets a poster."

"Ugh. Fine…"

"Excuse me," the last kid in line piped up. Pepper turned, and to her great surprise, she recognized the girl instantly – Harper. "Can you give this to Mr. Stark for me? If you could, I'd really appreciate it."

"Absolutely. Who's name do I give him?" Pepper asked, handing her a poster in exchange for a piece of neatly folded résumé paper.

"Harper… My name's Harper."

"I saw your picture on the wall when I got here, Harper. Is your sister here, too?"

"Laura? She's sick, so she couldn't be here today, but she's a big Avengers fan. I just like Iron Man."

"Totally understandable, Harper… Hey, how about you take another poster for Laura, too? She'd like one, too, I bet," she replied sweetly as she handed Harper another poster. "And, I'll make sure Tony gets your letter."

"Thank you, Ms. Potts. I really do appreciate it," Harper said, smiling.

"You're quite welcome, Miss Harper."

* * *

"Cute kid…"

"What?"

"That last kid, Harper. She seemed pretty sweet."

"Yeah, she was, Happy. You can tell she's a strong kid, too."

"You can see it in her eyes. What's the letter say?"

"Does it pertain to you, Nosy?"

"Um…"

"No, it doesn't." Pepper opened the letter; she herself was curious about its content...


	2. Chapter 2

**Headlights – Chapter 2**

**A/N: There is a slight drug-related section in this chapter, so please forgive me if said section offends you. Other than that, all I ask for is constructive reviews!**

* * *

"Tony!" Pepper called as she came walking into the kitchen. "Tony, where are you?"

There was a rustling and some bumping around coming from the bedroom. "I'm in here, Pep! Just, just give me a sec!"

"Are you okay, Tony?" she asked, cautiously approaching the door.

"I'm, I'm fine! Just wait a second…"

Pepper looked into the doorway. Tony was struggling to hold his icepack against his forehead and to put pants on. "What the… Tony, did you fall asleep in the shower again?!"

"Maybe…" he replied as he was just putting his right foot in the pant leg. "Actually, it wasn't my fault this time. That was all Jarvis. I asked for some loud music, and he gives me John Legend-level music."

"I apologized, Ms. Potts – I was truly sorry," Jarvis threw in, trying to save himself.

"Forget it, Jarvis. Did you get him back up?"

"Yes…?"

"Did you run a head scan?"

"Yes. Nothing major – just a minor bump on the head."

"Then let it go." Pepper walked over to the struggling Tony, who still couldn't get his pants on all the way. "Give me this, and put your freaking pants on, please," she said, taking his icepack.

"I almost had it. I was so close, Pepper…"

"You would have been here for an hour trying to put those on. You weren't even close – you had ONE pant leg partially on."

"… Touché." Tony gave up and pulled his black pants over his Iron Man boxers. "So, how was that, um… that thing that, um, you were at?"

Pepper laughed. "It was great. Just so you know, it was reading at the orphanage. You got some fan mail today from there," she said, pulling a single envelope from her pocket.

"One? That's it? C'mon, Pep, where are the rest?" Tony asked, a slight hint of disappointment in his voice.

"I swear that's the only one you got today."

"Fine, I guess I believe you." He opened the envelope to find a single sheet of paper folded into thirds.

"Let's see… 'Dear Mr. Stark, my name is Harper.'" He froze for a moment. The memory of his shower vision was broken, but that name... it couldn't be the same kid.

"'I'm writing to you because I would really like to meet you in person. Like you – but not nearly to the same degree – I am a very smart kid, and the only other person that understands me is my sister. Nobody really talks to me here in this place. I also think you're just so cool, let's be honest…'

"'I guess the real reason I decided to write to you is because I don't feel like I belong here. How'd you get through life being so smart? I imagine you didn't have a lot of friends that were your age because I don't, and I'm not nearly as smart as you were at my age. I just need someone to talk to, I guess… Please don't push me aside just because I'm a kid. If I could just spend some time with you and Ms. Potts and Jarvis, it'd make my day and many more after that. Thanks for making it all the way to the end of my letter without skipping anything. Sincerely, Harper.'"

"She gave me that letter before I left today."

"She's got some nice penmanship…" Tony said, looking over the letter again.

"Is that the only thing you're going to take away from that whole thing?"

"No…" Tony replied without looking up at Pepper. "I like how bluntly honest this kid is. How old is she?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm gonna guesstimate about twelve. She was one of the older kids there today." Pepper started for the door. "Anything else before I go make some lunch?"

Tony kept rereading the letter. "No, not right now… I'll come out there if I need to." Pepper nodded and left. Tony took a seat on their bed.

_How did I grow up without friends…?_

* * *

"I hope he got my letter… please, God. Please make sure Mr. Stark got my letter," Harper said out loud to no one in particular. It had been a while since Laura had left. There were a lot of kids that were never adopted because of their age. Their 18th birthday came with a small gift and release papers. After that, the person in question was left to fend for themselves. Laura decided it wasn't worth delaying the inevitable, so one night, after Harper was sound asleep, she left. No note. No goodbye. She just left.

Harper didn't want the same fate as countless others who had been through the orphanage, but she wasn't going to just give up like Laura. She was still holding onto hope.

She flopped onto her bed. Her room was a lot quieter with her sister gone, and it made her heart ache, but Harper had grown to accept it. Laura wasn't coming back, so what was the point of worrying? She looked to her nightstand and grabbed her iPod and her headphones. There was always safety in her music…

_So take the photographs and still frames in your mind, hang it on a shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was worth all the while. It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right; I hope you had the time of your life._

There suddenly was a pounding on her door. "Harper! Lunch!" a voice from the other side of her closed door shouted before taking off. Harper took off her headphones and paused her music. Food also fixed a lot of issues…

* * *

"Jarvis…"

"Yes, Mr. Stark?"

"What did you think of that letter?"

"Personally, the child sounds desperate, sir. Desperate for attention that she deserves."

"Me too… Me too." The letter was still in his pocket. There was something in the letter's brevity that made Tony think so hard about it. It was, actually, the most he had ever thought about a letter from a fan. "I wanna meet this kid."

"Why, exactly, sir?" Jarvis asked.

"She and I have a little something in common…" he said softly. "Pepper!"

Pepper was at her computer, preoccupied with the same thing Tony wanted to discuss, and ignored his call to her. On her screen, she looked through all the pictures of current children at the orphanage. "Harper… she likes video games, algebra, music, and pizza. No birth date?" she asked herself, a disappointed look on her face. "Oh, of course… duh. Private information isn't put online."

"Pepperrrrrrrrr!" Tony yelled as he made his way towards her computer.

"Yes, my beloved?" Pepper replied without even glancing up at him.

"I wanna meet this kid, this Harper."

"I want you to meet her, too. I'm setting up a meeting for you."

"Always ahead of the curve."

"That's my job, kiddo. What do you think of… tomorrow?"

"Sure." Tony nodded. He didn't want to tell Pepper why he was so desperate to see this kid. If this was the same Harper that was in his shower dream… he didn't know if he'd want to go through that fate or not.

Tony ended up sitting alone in the dark that night. The suspense was what worried him. _What if she's the same kid? What if all that happens? Will she pick Pepper or me? God, I hope she'd pick Pepper… Am I ready to be a father? Wait, I'm not committing to anything by just visiting this kid. If anything, I give her a cool experience to hold onto and that's the end of it. But… what if I grow attached to this kid? What then?_

All these thoughts kept flooding his mind, and for the first time in a long time, Anthony Edward Stark – God, he hated his middle name – was confused. All because of a kid.

Harper ended up sitting in her bed, her headphones on, in the dark that night as well. Not knowing if Pepper kept her word or not worried her._ Did he get it? Did Pepper even say anything to him? I really hope she did… I hope he got it. I hope he read it. I can't do this anymore. He HAS to come… at least once. That's all I want. Just one day. Will he even care enough? The man gets probably hundreds of e-mails and letters a day. One random letter probably won't bother him one bit. Maybe… maybe it's not even worth worrying about. Maybe he just won't care…_

* * *

8:57. Rogers had three minutes to spare as he slammed the breaks of his car and grabbed his duffel bag. Pepper, Tony, and Happy looked out their windows at the sound of squealing tires. Steve quickly parked his own car and grabbed his duffel bag from the passenger seat before climbing into Stark's limo.

"About time you decided to show up, Cap. Pepper had half a notion to leave you behind if you weren't on time," Tony said, taking a sip of his Rehab. Steve rolled his eyes as he took off his

"Shut up, Stark. At least I made it on time," he fired back, flopping into the backseat beside everyone.

"Try telling that to the kids we're seeing when we show up with two minutes to spare," Pepper said with a slightly annoyed expression. "Okay, Happy. We can take off, now." The car began to roll forward.

"Spare me," Steve replied as he sighed a sigh of exhaustion. "Where are we going again?"

"It's a secret, Rogers…" Tony said as he sipped some water. "Actually, no, it isn't."

"We are going to meet a special someone today. Out in Manhattan…" Pepper said, making sure her outfit was lint-free with her sticky roller.

"Look at that, my old stomping grounds. Must be someone important, then, if you asked me to come."

"I like to think so, yes," Tony said. His nervousness made him avoid looking at anyone.

"Can I ask who it is?"

"No…"

* * *

_"Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry. You don't know how lovely you are. I had to find you, tell you I need you, tell you I set you apart. Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions. Oh let's go back to the start… Running in circles; coming up tails, heads on a science apart… Nobody said it was easy…"_

Harper looked at her watch. Lenni said some people would be there at 10:00. It was 9:55. She sat in her spinning chair as she waited, her headphones over her ears as she listened to Coldplay. She looked at her playlist. "Man, I am so screwy with this music…"

"Any AC-DC? Please say you have at least one of their albums…"

Harper looked up from her screen. Her eyes grew wide as she saw Tony, Pepper, and Steve standing in front of her. "Holy frick…"

"Nice to meet you, too. I hear you're a big nerd, as you implied in your letter…" He put his hand out to her. "Tony."

"I didn't mean to imply it, but I won't deny it…" Harper said, her jaw halfway to the floor. _Holy Jesus, he's here… _She took his hand. "Harper."

"You kind of did, but that's okay. You and I both have our intelligence against us," Tony said as he grabbed the back of the chair in front of him. "May we take a seat?"

"Be my guest." Tony, Pepper, and Steve all took a seat.

"Hi, Harper. It's nice to see you again," Pepper said, smiling. Harper looked back at Pepper and smiled. There was something about Pepper that made her feel safe.

"Hi, Pepper…"

"Hey, I'm Steve," Steve introduced himself next and put his hand out to the young girl. She took it and smiled.

Harper's eyes grew wide as she saw Rogers walk in behind them. "... It's, um, very nice to meet you, Captain…"

"You can just call me Steve. Keep it pretty informal here," he said. He then realized his hand began to feel sore. "Nice grip you have – you're honestly making my hand stiff, there, Harper."

She instantly eased up. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your hand…"

Tony began taking notes in his mind. _Apologizes, honest, blunt… not bad._

Steve shook it off and told her not to worry about it. "It's not a bad thing. That's actually really good."

"Thanks," she replied softly.

"So," Tony piped up again. "Let's hear the stats on you, kid. What's your story?"

"Well, um, I'm Harper Nike – I don't really remember my last name anymore, so I just use my first two names. I just finished my sophomore year, I take honors math and science, my GPA is a 3.966, and I like martial arts."

"You have a GPA? As in a high school GPA?" Steve asked, his confusion showing on his face.

"The very same. First semester of sophomore year."

"Jesus Christ..."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." She rubbed her neck and her cheeks got a little red. " Um, yeah... Oh! I also have a thing about music. I play the saxophone and the bassoon, so if that's a deal breaker, we need to address that now. I need a bassoon and a saxophone around. A piano at least, even though I can't play it…" Harper looked between the three of them.

"I have no objections to that," Pepper said.

"Honestly, I have no idea why I'm here, but that sounds okay to me… How old are you again?" Steve asked, still trying to wrap his mind around Harper's academic achievement.

"You're here because you're the one she's going to potentially be in charge of when we're not home, Cap," Tony said nonchalantly. "As for your strange musical requests, I can live with it."

"Okay…" Harper said, taking a moment to think of other important things she needed to address. "Um, I like video games. I'm on a Walking Dead game kick right now. But I also like softball, volleyball, and hockey. I don't play hockey, but I really like watching it…"

"I have questions for you, Harper," Tony added to the conversation. "What about your past?"

"Tony, don't push her to talk about things she doesn't want to," Pepper said, slapping Tony on the leg.

"Ow!" Tony yelped as he rubbed his thigh. "Am I pushing you into an uncomfortable topic, Harper?"

"Um," Harper hesitated. She rubbed the back of her neck. "That depends. How far back do you want me to go?"

"As far back as you can remember all the way to today."

"Well, my birthday is August 13th, 2003. I had two older siblings – twins – and we lived in upstate New York until I was, like, eight. My mother was, um… she was a crack addict. She had a tendency to beat us now and then if she didn't get her cocaine on time. That was mainly the reason why she… why she kicked us out. She needed her stupid crack more than us…." Harper began to look away from those in front of her and at her hands instead. She sniffled, and a tear rolled down her face. "Her crack addiction caused my brother to die. When they called her, after the orphanage took us in, she was so messed up that she didn't even remember we existed. She said to Miss Lenni, 'I ain't got no kids, I ain't never had kids, and I don't want no kids, so if you don't got nothin' else to say, don't call back.' It… it hurt. But I had my sister. At least until this past winter. She... she left me, and I haven't heard from her since…"

Pepper was confused at that last statement. "Harper, I thought you said Laura was sick the day I was here."

"I'm sorry, Pepper… I lied. I just… I'm still not ready to admit she's gone. I'm really sorry." She pulled the extra poster up from the floor. "Here's the poster back."

Tony watched the scene unfold before him. This kid had a crap life, but by the way she carried herself… It blew him away.

Soon after, the meeting ended. Harper shook everyone's hand and left the room, and Lenni took her place. She put a folder on the table between her and the visitors.

"So, how was the first meeting? Good first impressions, I hope?" Lenni asked.

"Very. Harper seems like such a sweet kid," Pepper started. Tony and Steve nodded in agreement.

"Do you happen to have a folder of her academic career by any chance?" Tony asked. Lenni nodded.

"I do, actually. This is everything from her kindergarten year up until this past school year, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks," he said quickly as he took the folder. He then got up and began to wander around as he read all the reports.

"I'm just curious, ma'am, but does Harper have any psychological or emotional, um… problems? She was telling us about her mother before…"

"Oh, yes… her mother, the cocaine addict. I don't mean to sound rude, but when you're so hooked on something that you throw out your children and then just forget them, that just is such a low level of ignorance to me..." Lenni said. "As far as we can tell, Harper has never had any lasting mental or psychological issues from that time in her life. She's, she's a very strong kid. She can be very sensitive, but from her sister's accounts, that is just part of who Harper is."

"Okay, I was just curious. As a soldier, I'm very familiar with PTSD, so I just wanted to know…" Steve replied. He then sat back in his seat quietly.

"I think this kid needs us." Tony piped up suddenly. "She's consistently scored in the 99th percentile or higher in state and national testing… she's not using her head the way she could…"

"Coming from you, that only supports my opinion that Harper needs you, Mr. Stark. When Ms. Potts emailed me about you wanting to meet her today, I knew she needed a chance like this. The only problem is that because of your… _public situation, _if you will-."

"Being a superhero. Makes us seem a little less qualified to take her in. I get it. But in actuality, we are way more qualified than anyone to take her…"

"The only thing I can do for you at this point is approve you for a short term trial, Mr. Stark. If you can keep the world peaceful for about three months, then you can officially apply to adopt her."

"When can we take her, Miss Lenni?" Pepper asked. "I really feel that the sooner we can take her, the better."

"Well, it'll be at least a week until we can get all the paperwork through the state systems, but we can start the paperwork today…."

"Great… paperwork." Tony rolled his eyes.

* * *

Tony wiped the sweat from his forehead as he leaned on the sledgehammer he had been using on the wall.

"Sir, you should really relax. The child won't be moving in for another week – you should see what her preferences are before you begin destroying the whole spare room. Also, you don't even know if this is going to be permanent."

"Jarvis, can you just shut up for, like, five minutes? I know exactly how she's gonna want this room. I know this kid well enough to know what she'll want in her room. Jesus, Jarvis…"

Picking up his sledgehammer, Tony swung it and watched as it smashed the wall to pieces. He was going to finish this project within 24 hours. He just had to.


End file.
